ROCKFORD — A smartphone application called Barrel Dodger could help Rockford-area residents adjust their travel routes if there's construction along the way.

Another app, What-When-Where, consolidates local-event calendars so residents can see what's happening in their neighborhoods and add their own events through a few easy steps.

And RaiseUp Rockford lets people post photos of broken signs and streetlights to help city officials address community concerns by automating the fix-it requests, then alert residents when the problems are fixed.

Each app won a combined $15,000 in prize money Saturday during the first Rockford OpenTech Challenge at the city's business incubator EIGERlab, 605 Fulton Ave.

A dozen people from the Rockford area, the Chicago suburbs and Wisconsin participated in the daylong event. Three challenges were issued in the morning, and participants had the rest of the day to develop apps to address the needs.

OpenTech aims to foster relationships among the technology community, municipalities and nonprofits to improve efficiency.

The first challenge involved Rockford road data and projects. Patrick Zuroske, the city's capital program manager and one of the judges, explained how the city does 40 to 50 construction projects a year, and communicating detours and projects timelines with everyone who would benefit from the information can be complicated.

The second challenge addressed the concept of "moving the needle," or promoting the good work that residents, businesses and neighborhoods are doing in Rockford. The third challenge was a wildcard that included various municipal data.

Paul Lemke of Elkhorn, Wis., and teammates Sonish Thomas, Joe Moses, Erik Stadler and Adam Whitson won the first and third challenges. He said the event was a fun side project to day-to-day Web development that still tested his abilities and talent.

He said 95 percent of software development involves making apps more user-friendly and marketable to people who aren't super tech-savvy.

"There are hundreds of thousands of apps in the app store. You can't just submit it to the app store and be done," Lemke said. "You've got to make these partnerships with the city of Rockford so that they would promote it and they would drive the traffic to those websites."

Jennifer Hall helps facilitate the information technology roundtable at EIGERlab that's focused on growing the high-tech job market in Rockford and building a pipeline of employees for that sector.

Hall, also an OpenTech judge, was thrilled with the turnout.

"This is civic innovation at its best," she said. "We need to harness that talent, let them be creative and come up with ideas and make the ideas work for them. That's what we have to do as a city."

In January, Hall said, college IT departments from the region will meet to discuss their curriculums and if those programs match what local employers need for their pipeline of employees.

Page 2 of 2 - Christopher Whitaker, a consultant with the Smart Chicago Collaborative, is also trying to start a Code for America connection in Rockford. Code for America uses technology to modernize municipalities and improve their outreach with residents.

"We're letting citizens know we're listening and we're taking care of what their concerns are," Hall said. "Communication is key to changing the narrative in this town. How do we start creating a story that tells everyone — the people who live here, work here — that we really care about this town? That's change that every citizen can be part of."